No disrespect meant to THQ's WWE Smackdown vs. Raw brand, but it's got some competition with Midway's forthcoming wrestling game TNA Impact. Designed from the ground up to be a straightforward arcade wrestling game, the game looks to offer the kind of adrenaline-pumping action that Total Nonstop Action wrestling has become known for. Packed with over 25 playable wrestlers, including Booker T, Kurt Angle, Abyss and the mysterious Sting, additional wrestlers are unlockable over the course of the game as well (SHARK BOY!), with points that you accumulate with your performance in each match.
The gameplay gets you in sync with TNA's chaotic in-ring action. Grappling, punching and kicking works very smoothly here, with a modifier button (on the left bumper button) that lets you give them some extra power. You can also climb turnbuckles by pressing the B button and run with the help of the right trigger, launching into a sprinting offensive move. There are foreign objects, including a steel chair on the outside of the ring and Jeff Jarrett's trademark breakapart guitar, perfect for bashing in Scott Steiner's head. (Sorry, Scott, you're just the target of choice here.) There are also mash-button minigames, three-button sequences where you have to tap the buttons quickly in order to either successfully complete a submission or get out of it. There's also a small timing game when it comes to winning a match or grabbing an "X" trophy, sitting on top of the cage in an Ultimate X match.
Ultimate X mode requires you to climb up a turnbuckle and then work your way across a pair of ropes, tied into an X at the center of the ring. Putting yourself in an up-high situation is very dangerous, not only for you but your opponent. You can be kicked and sent flying down face-first to the mat; you can be grabbed by an opponent on the ground for a ground smash; and you can launch a flying offensive by letting go of the ropes and falling down into them. There's a number of fantastic techniques here, with solid controls to back them up.
TNA Impact looks excellent. The wrestlers look like their real-life selves, from Scott Steiner's chain-mail head cover to Jeff Jarrett's fuzzy hair to Homicide's traditional face bandanna. Head and body structure are equally proportional to the real TNA wrestlers. Egg-headed Kurt Angle (not an insult, really) resembles the real wrestler that he's been mapped under. The game runs at a smooth 60 frames per second (developer's choice) and features great crowd interaction, a highly-detailed number of wrestling rings (only Orlando was shown thus far) and wrestler entrances, right down to the timing of their pyrotechnics.
Midway expects TNA Impact to ship for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 2 this September. From what we've seen and played, it may just put a stranglehold on the genre.
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